City edition of Urdu 'Rashtriya Sahara' launched

Mumbai, Apr 1 (UNI) City edition of Urdu 'Rashtriya Sahara' was launched at a function organised here.

On the occasion yesterday, Union Minister for Minority Affairs Abdul Rehman Antulay congratulated the Sahara Parivar and described the launch of the newspaper as a support to the ''sinking boat of Urdu.'' He alleged that though the Government was biased towards the language, a number of Urdu readers were also responsible for its decline, as they do not purchase and read Urdu newspapers.

On the occasion, Samajwadi Party MP Abu Asim Azmi welcomed the launch and said though lakhs of Urdu readers are in Mumbai, the circulation of Urdu dailies is only among a few thousands, which is a matter of regret.

National Editor of Rashtriya Sahara Dr Aziz Barni said the Sahara Parivar is proud to come up as the largest publication house in the country, as the company has already three Urdu editions from Delhi, Gorakhpur and Lucknow. The editions will also come up soon from Patna, Kolkata and other parts of the country, he added.

He said Sahara is also coming up with a 24-hr Urdu news channel.

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